"Oh great," Zorian mumbled. He probably should have restrained himself from reacting so strongly to the pronouncement. Truthfully, he intended to skip the dance, regardless of how mandatory it was. Did Ilsa realize that? No, he could detect no disapproval in posture, and he was pretty sure she’d be rather annoyed if she sensed his plans.
"Now then…" Ilsa began when he and Akoja were the only students left. "I assume you both know how to dance?"
"Sure," said Zorian.
"Umm…" Akoja fidgeted. "I’m not very good at it."
"No matter," Ilsa said. "We’ll iron out any gaps you may have easily enough. The reason I told you to stay behind is that I want you to help me with the dance lessons."
Zorian considered refusing outright – it wasn’t something he wanted to spend his time on – but he figured this could be a favor that would make Ilsa forgive him a transgression or two. Like, say, not showing up to the mandatory dance? Before he could express his tentative agreement, however, Akoja decided in his place.
"How can we help?" she said, clearly pleased they were chosen for this honor. Zorian raised an eyebrow at the way she presumed to speak for him, but let it slide for the moment.
"We only have five days to teach everyone how to dance," Ilsa said. "That’s why we’re going to use magic to help."
"Animation spells," Zorian guessed.
"Yes," Ilsa said, then quickly moved to explain for Akoja’s benefit. "There is a spell that will guide a person’s limbs and body through whatever dance it is designed for. It’s not really suitable as a substitute for dancing skill, but if you practice dancing while you’re under its effects, you will learn a lot faster than you would otherwise."
"How does that work?" Akoja asked curiously.
"The spell moves you around like a puppet on a string until you learn how to move along with it, if only to make the feeling of something jerking you around go away," said Zorian. "Eventually you no longer need the spell to dance correctly."
"I see you have personal experience with this method," Ilsa said with a smile.
Zorian resisted the urge to scowl. Getting put under that spell by Daimen was one of his childhood traumas. It wasn’t amusing at all.
"I sincerely hope you intend to give students a choice to refuse," Zorian said.
"Of course," Ilsa agreed. "Though, those who refuse this method will have to attend at least three sessions instead of one, so I expect most will choose this option instead of the traditional one. In any case, I want you two to help me cast the spell on people during the lessons. I expect I’ll have to dispel and recast the spell often, and I could use some help."
"And why did you choose us, specifically?" Zorian asked.
"You both have decent control over your magic and you seem responsible enough to be taught such a spell. Animation spells targeting people are restricted material, after all, and not something normally available to students."
Huh. So how did Daimen get a hold of it then? In his second year, no less?
Well, whatever. At least knowing how to cast the spell will make it easier to counter it in the future.
"Anything else?" Ilsa asked. "Very well, then. Come to my office after the last class and I’ll set up some dummies for you to practice on before moving on to people. Poorly controlled, the spell is intensely uncomfortable. We don’t want to give anyone traumas."
Zorian narrowed his eyes. He didn’t. Not even Daimen would… oh, who is he kidding? Of course he would have. Practicing such a spell on your own little brother was right up Daimen’s alley.
"Miss Stroze, you can leave – I have something else to discuss with mister Kazinski."
Ilsa began to speak the moment Akoja was gone, catching Zorian somewhat by surprise. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, trying to ignore his annoyance with Daimen in favor of paying attention to what Ilsa was saying.
"So Zorian," she said with a faint smile. "How are you getting along with your mentor?"
"He’s having me work on my basic three," Zorian told her flatly. "We’re still on the levitation exercise."
Yes, even after 4 weeks, Xvim was still making him levitate a pencil over and over again. Start over. Start over. Start over. The only thing Zorian learned in those sessions was how to dodge marbles that Xvim kept throwing at him. The jerk seemed to have an endless supply of those things.
"Yes, Professor Xvim likes his students to have a firm grasp of the basics before moving on to advanced topics," Ilsa agreed.
That or he hates his students. Zorian personally thought his theory was a lot more plausible.
"Well, I just wanted to tell you that you might be able to change mentors soon," Ilsa said. "One of my students will be dropping out after the summer festival, and I’ll have a vacancy to fill. Unless something comes up, you’re almost certain to be the one I pick. That is, if you’re actually interested in a transfer."
"Of course I’m interested!" Zorian half-shouted, much to Ilsa’s amusement. He frowned for a moment. "Unless you also plan to throw marbles at me? Is that some kind of standard training method?"
"No," Ilsa chuckled. "Xvim is special that way. Well, I just wanted to see how you feel about this before doing anything. Have a nice day."
It was only after he was out of the classroom that he realized this development greatly complicated his plan to skip out on the dance. He couldn’t afford to annoy his (potential) new mentor too much, else he’d be stuck with Xvim for the rest of his education.
Well played, professor. Well played.
"Why can’t we just cast that spell ourselves once the dancing starts?"
Zorian let out a long-suffering sigh. "You can’t make an animation spell do something you don’t know how to do yourself. You don’t know how to dance, hence you cannot animate anyone to dance either. Also, how are you going to break the spell once the dance ends if you can’t move your arms where you want them to be? This really isn’t the sort of spell you should be casting on yourself."
Really, there were so many problems with that idea that Zorian struggled to put them all into words. Are these people thinking about the questions they’re asking at all?
"So how many dances do we have to learn?"
"Ten," said Zorian, bracing himself for the cries of outrage.
Sure enough, a rumble of complaints erupted after that statement. Thankfully, Ilsa took over the lesson at this point, instructing everyone to pair up and scatter throughout the spacious room to give everyone enough space. Zorian could already feel a headache coming and cursed himself from letting Ilsa talk him into this. Even though room six was fairly spacious, there were a lot of people and the invisible pressure they gave off was particularly strong today.
"You alright?" Benisek asked, putting his hand on Zorian’s shoulder.
"I’m fine," Zorian said, waving his hand off. He didn’t like to be touched much. "I just have a slight headache. Did you need help with something?"
"Nah, you just looked like you could use some company, standing all alone in your little corner," Benisek said. Zorian decided not to tell him that he was intentionally standing on the sidelines unless he was needed. Benisek wasn’t the sort of person who understood the need for some breathing room. "Say, who is your date for the dance anyway?"
Zorian suppressed a groan. Of course Benisek would want to talk about that.
Relationships weren’t something Zorian thought about often. The chances that one of his classmates would agree to date him were miniscule. For one, such a relationship would quickly be noticed by the rest of their classmates, and the resulting merciless teasing was something few relationships could survive for any appreciable length. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, all teenage girls liked older guys. Dating a guy that was two or three years her senior seemed to be a status symbol for a girl, and a majority of them loudly disparaged the male population their own age as crass and immature. When they were in their first year, all the girls wanted to date third years. Now that they were in their third year, all the girls wanted to date apprenticed graduates. Since there were plenty of guys willing to play along, the chances that some girl in his class would give him the time of day was negligible.